Portal:Japan/Geography/Selected prefecture/32

Shimane Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshū island. The capital is Matsue. It is the second least populous prefecture in Japan, next to the Tottori Prefecture that is a neighboring prefecture on the east side. The prefecture has an area elongated from east to west facing the Chūgoku Mountain Range on the south side and to the Sea of Japan on the north side. Most of the cities are near the shoreline of the Sea of Japan. There is Izumo Taisha in Izumo City, which is one of the oldest Shinto shrines in Japan. The Oki Islands in the Sea of Japan are also part of Shimane Prefecture, which also claims to have jurisdiction over the South Korea-controlled island of Liancourt Rocks (Takeshima). The history of Shimane starts with the Japanese mythology. Shinto god Ōkuninushi was believed to be living in Izumo, an old province in Shimane. The Izumo Shrine, which is in the city of Izumo, honors the god. At that time, the current Shimane prefecture was divided in to 3 parts, Iwami, Izumo, and Oki. That lasted until the abolition of the han system took place in 1871. During the Nara period, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro read a poem on Shimane's nature when he was sent as the Royal governor. Later on in the Kamakura period, Kamakura Shogunate forces emperors Gotoba and Emperor Godaigo to exile to Oki. Emperor Godaigo later gets away from Oki and begins rallying against the shogunate, which later succeeds. During the Muromachi period, Izumo and Oki were controlled by the Kyogoku clan.